Chapter 9: Beck's POV

Beck's POV

My oldest brother came out of the shed with his shirt on inside out.

I didn't say a word. I had made a vow on the walk up the hill.

Stellan said plenty. He said "Oh my God" six times, and I had to put a hand over his mouth.

Behind Torsten, Lowen stepped out with leaves in her hair and her chin up.

"Don't," she said to the two of us.

"I wasn't going to," I said.

"You were going to say something clever about crumbs."

"I was going to say congratulations to my brother. I swear."

Her mouth twitched. For a second she almost laughed.

Then it left her face, and I remembered what she had come into the trees for.

Garrick had told her about her mother, and she had buried it deep. It was in the way she stood.

I fell in beside her as we walked down the hill, not touching, but close enough that she could.

Something strange was going on inside me.

I had always figured that sharing a woman with my brothers would feel like a knife.

Torsten had just spent an hour with her, and I should have been jealous.

I felt warm. That was all.

It scared me more than jealousy would have.

At the edge of the yard, Torsten stopped us.

"Garrick says there's no proof about her mother," he said.

"But the Elder keeps a ledger. Every cut, every ruling, in his own hand."

"Where?" Lowen asked.

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